


2:27AM

by MzRogueRaz (EggplantRed)



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Black Character(s), Blood, Blood Loss, Cussing, Earthborn (Mass Effect), F/F, Female Character of Color, Heavy Angst, Injury, Loss, Pre-Mass Effect 1, Renegade Commander Shepard, Renegon (Mass Effect), Sole Survivor (Mass Effect), Two Shepards, Two Shepards AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggplantRed/pseuds/MzRogueRaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A job like this needed careful planning. One mistake and it would be the last time you tried.<br/>They hardly ever disagreed when it came to work but in this one instance, Ryal wishes she had fought more.<br/>{Takes place in Shepard's teenage years back on Earth, a few months before joining the Alliance}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Hasty Plan

**Author's Note:**

> _Set in an AU where there are two Commander Shepards_

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan was flawed. Ryal knew it, Tara knew it but was being stubborn for reasons she wouldn't explain. Ryal knew they just needed more time to think everything through. The goal was always to come back alive. Tara was done waiting though.

"Shit!”

Ryal was pacing the living room, chewing down the inside of her cheek. Tara sat back in the chair and watched her almost wear a tread into the floor. Her usually steady hands nervously fussed with her cropped hair.

“There's just no way we can get in the room, into the safe, and back out of there without his goons getting to us first."

Tara stood and approached. “Yaya. Stop for a minute.” Ryal continued, steadily talking under her breath, going over the pros and cons of pulling off the job. She never minded taking risks but when the risks outweighed the rewards, she just couldn’t see taking a job. She reached out to stop her when Ryal jerked away.

“Don’t touch me, Tara. Not right now. You want us to go out here blindly for a quick buck without having cased the place ourselves. You know I don’t work that way.” Hands on her hips, she softened her stance and waited patiently while Ryal continued to worry and pace.

Speaking just above a whisper, “Yaya, please stop.” She paused for a quick second and looked at her. She was angry but couldn’t turn away from her. Not when she used that tone or that name. She’s been pulling that trick since they were kids and it worked every time.

Tara reached for her hand and pulled it to her heart, “I know we can do this.” She stood there looking into her eyes, almost pleading with her to trust her. She exhaled and took a small step towards her. “Evie, we just don’t know enough.”

Gently rubbing Ryal’s hand, “No one can get in and out of a place faster than the two of us. That’s why Alonzo always uses us.”

“Yeah and Alonzo always makes sure we can case the place first too. This couldn’t have come from him, did it?”

Tara chewed her bottom lip, hoping her usual trick of cute pouting would keep her from having to answer.

“Damn it, T! Where did you hear about this job?” Ryal snatched her hand away and walked into the kitchen, needing to put some space between them. Tara grabbed the ends of her jacket and fiddled with the zipper. She regretted even mentioning the job now but if Little Tab was right, it would set her and Ryal up for the rest of their lives. She had to get Ryal to see reason but her own emotions were starting to get the better of her.

“What does it fucking matter??!! It’s work! Not like we’re out here punching a time clock. Last I checked, we couldn’t put lockpicking and knife skills on an application. I’m sure larceny, battery, and assault is frowned upon too.”

Ryal could feel herself begin seething with anger. She grabbed a bottle out of the refrigerator and snapped the top off. When she became as enraged as she was right then, her whole body buzzed with energy. Her biotic abilities had only manifested last year and she felt like her life had been hell ever since. She initially made Tara stay away from her for fear that she’d do something she would regret. Eventually, Tara convinced her to seek help with it. She went in for whatever surgery was required but once it was over Tara helped her sneak back out. There was no way she would become another lab rat. It wasn’t her fault it was happening to her and they weren’t about to poke and prod at her for research’s sake.

Tara noticed her demeanor changed and remained in the living room. Ryal's blue glow may have been faint but it was noticeable; it practically screamed 'do not approach'. She turned around and sat back in the chair, tried once more to change Ryal’s mind.

“Yaya, I really think we can do this. Baz’s crew is shit. We’ve taken his boys on before and handled them just fine. This would just be more of the same.”

Her tender appeal seemed to work as the buzzing glow began to subside. Ryal considered the possibilities. She always preferred to have some kind of details about a place. Walking in blindly was never an option as far as she was concerned. It could easily lead to sloppy work and sloppy work could lead to death. Yet, Tara had never been so insistent about a job before. Maybe they could really do it. If they had lots of hiding places and went under the cover of night it would be possible.

“I don't know Evie. Where is the job? Warehouse? Restaurant?”

Tara slid a few curls behind her ears and looked down at the hole in her jeans, avoiding Ryal’s gaze. As she pulled at loose threads, she could feel her eyes burning into her.

Ryal knew that look. That look just before Tara was about to ask her to do something outrageous...or really stupid.

She sat the bottle on the counter, afraid she would shatter it in her hand as she collected herself to ask.

“It’s at his house, isn’t it?”


	2. The Clock Strikes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She glanced over at the clock when she heard the noise - 2:27AM.  
> It would become a time she'd never forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 05/25/2016: Minor edits done

The clock read 2:27AM.

The sound of glass breaking somewhere in the loft jolted her out of her sleep. Ryal instinctively reached for the knife in the space between the mattress and wall. Swiftly rolling out of bed, she slipped into the shadows and tiptoed softly, seeking the sound's source. As she carefully climbed over the railing and dropped down to the first floor, she spotted a blood trail leading from the front door towards the kitchen. She slid into another hidden corner and kept to the wall as she followed the drops of blood which were quickly becoming small puddles.

Just as she reached the corner of the kitchen counter, another glass shattered. Her heart racing in her chest, she crouched low to the floor, cleared her mind and steadied her breath. She was only wearing a camisole and panties and prayed that she was at the intruder’s flank where her lack of protective clothing wouldn’t be as big of an issue. She'd have sliced an ankle tendon and slit their throat before they knew what hit them. Her knuckles lightened as she tightened her grip on the knife’s handle and prepared to round the corner to lash out at the intruder. The loft may have been just another residence in a rundown building but they had made it their own.

The slender figure was hunched over the counter, digging through the drawers frantically searching for something. Ryal remained low as she tiptoed over the increasingly larger puddles of blood and crept up behind the figure, knife ready to launch when she stopped dead in her tracks four feet away. Orange and chocolate laced with the distinctive smell of iron from the blood wafted into her nose. This was no robber, no rival gang member come to exact revenge, it could only be Tara.

Ryal dropped her knife and grabbed the shrouded person's shoulders, turning them around in the process.

Yanking the jacket hood off her head, “Tara!”

Tara’s dark hazel eyes were listless as she looked at Ryal.

“Yaya…”

She barely finished saying her name before collapsing against Ryal. Ryal held onto her as she kneeled down to the floor. Tara's skin looked sallow as the life poured steadily from the wound in her stomach. Her top lip was busted, bottom lip split, eye was blackened, jaw sported black and blue bruising and was most likely broken from the looks of her. She'd been in a fight, suffered a stab wound, and Ryal wasn't there to protect her.

“Fuck Evie, fuck!”

Ryal ripped open her jacket and pressed her hand to the wound, hoping some firm pressure would stem the bleeding but it had been too long, the cut was too deep.

“What happened?!? Did Baz do this to you?” She was trying to maintain a whisper, not wanting to raise her voice at her in this condition, but couldn’t hide how upset she was nor her fear of what was unfolding before her. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep her emotions under control as she watched helplessly as Tara barely clung to life.

Tara made a feeble attempt to grasp at Ryal’s arm, “Shut up Rat. Listen...” Rat- she only used that name when she was exasperated with her. No one else was allowed to call Ryal that and expect to continue living, only Tara could get away with it. She coughed and blood gurgled in her throat as she struggled to speak. Tara reached for Ryal’s hand and found the strength to interlace her fingers with hers. “Love you Yaya.” She swallowed back the viscous fluid collecting in her throat.

Another frail cough and breathing was becoming difficult as her lungs began taking on more blood. ”Leave it behind. For you, for me, for us.” Her glassy eyes stared back at her, tears falling down her temples and into her thick, wavy locks. She raised her clenched fist from beneath Ryal and opened her palm. “I nabbed this from the bastard.”

A soaking wet velvet pouch rolled out of her hand and onto the floor. Ryal picked it up and looked inside. Four medium sized stones and numerous small gems jangled against each other. She dropped the pouch on the floor and lowered her head as tears began streaming down her face.

“Evie…” Large tears fell onto Tara’s face, clearing any blood in its path. ”I told you not to go. The plan wasn't solid yet.” Tara attempted to laugh and coughed instead. “You know me, a stubborn little shit. Never did listen.” Ryal couldn’t contain the small, inappropriate giggle Tara managed to elicit from her.

“And they say I’m the hardheaded one.” They both smiled at each other, Tara’s notably smaller than hers. Her eyelids began to lower, her breathing shortened, as she grew colder lying there in Ryal’s lap. The blood no longer rushed from her wound, slowing to a trickle instead.

Her body tensed as she watched Tara struggle to breath. She pulled the smaller woman to her chest and hugged her.

“No! Don’t you fucking leave me Evie! I can’t do this without you.” A few garbled sounds came from Tara but were soon followed by silence. No more labored breathing, the little warmth that remained faded. Ryal sat there, covered in Tara’s blood, still embracing the lifeless woman. She could not accept that she was gone. If only the stubborn little bastard had listened to her. She unfolded her legs from beneath her, never letting go of Tara, and leaned back against the cabinet. She moved strands of Tara’s raven colored hair out of her face. Her blood stained palm caressed her cheek before she clutched her close to her chest again.

Ryal sat there in a daze, her grip on reality slipping, as she hummed their song to her. It was a jolly sounding tune they used to hum when they were casing places to rob. A little ditty she would be humming by herself from that point on.


End file.
